Friday, November 30, 2012

This has been a huge fashion week... Here's all the news you need to know.

ALEXANDER WANG HEADS TO BALENCIAGA

The murmurs (read, Twitter frenzy) began yesterday but this morning- as Nicolas Ghesquière began his last day- it was confirmed by WWD that one of New York's most successful and best-loved young designers is heading to Paris to design at Balenciaga. Here's what the fashion industry thought...

Congratulations to Alexander Wang for the Balenciaga gig! A new era...

Alexander Wang is off to Balenciaga (image via wmagazine.com)

JW ANDERSON TO DESIGN FOR VERSUS

Following the end of Christopher Kane's work at Versus, it was announced on Wednesday that Jonathan (JW) Anderson will be the first young designer to collaborate with Versace's sister brand as they head in a new, digitally focussed direction. We'll get to see the result of the collaboration at a New York event in March or April 2013. JDubz and Versus have given us a hint of what's to come, releasing this fabulous image by Bruce Weber starring Stella Tennant, from 1996. This photo has apparently inspired the collection. Bring on the New White Jean.

JW Anderson's Versus inspiration (Image via fashionologe.com)

WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH CHRISTOPHER KANE?

So now we know that Kane won't be heading up Balenciaga, but has got more time on his hands thanks to the end of his Versus deal, there is increasing specualtion that he might be getting ready to take his own brand to the next level. He is rumoured to have held talks with PPR who were behind the expansions of Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen's label. A Christopher Kane shop is something we would REALLY like to see. Watch this space...

SUZY MENKES

Whilst we all get our knickers in a twist about what the Balenciaga version of a Wang Rocco bag will look like, or what a Wang version of a Lariat will be, Suzy Menkes has been summing up the state of fashion now in her inimitable, concise and searing way. Her piece "Dirty Pretty Things" from today's New York Times is well-worth a read. Find out more about Menkes' approach to fashion and her career in this interview from AnOther.

Suzy Menkes has been guiding us through the current fashion upheaval (image via Anothermag.com)

J CREW OPENS IN LONDON

This is ridiculously exciting- J Crew is opening on Regent Street sometime next year- I've heard conflicting reports as to when. Some say March, some say "late 2013". I'll be saving my pennies judiciously. It's part of bigger expansion plans for the fashion meets preppy brand beloved of Michelle Obama.

J Crew SS13 shoes from this week's day

JUSTINE PICARDIE'S NEW HARPER'S BAZAAR

Sienna Miller graces the cover of January's Harper's Bazaar, the first issue under the new editorship of Justine Picardie, find out more about the writer and journalist- who penned last year's brilliant Coco Chanel biography- in her interview with the Evening Standard. The magazine will be out to buy on Monday.

Stella McCartney was the big winner at the British Fashion Awards on Tuesday evening, taking home Designer of the Year and Designer Brand of the Year. Here's the winners list in full and a few videos to give a taste of the proceedings. As with all the very best formal events, everything didn't quite go to plan, The Telegraph's Luke Leitch summarised the evening's gaffes and standout moments.

The BFA winners...

British Style brought to you by Vodafone: Alexa Chung

Outstanding Achievement in Fashion: Manolo Blahnik CBE

Emerging Talent Award – Ready-To-Wear: J.W. Anderson

Emerging Talent Award – Accessories: Sophie Hulme

Emerging Talent Award – Menswear: Jonathan Saunders

Special Recognition: Harold Tillman CBE

Red Carpet Award: Roksanda Ilincic

Accessory Designer: Nicholas Kirkwood

Designer Brand: Stella McCartney

Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator: Louise Wilson OBE

New Establishment: Erdem

Model: Cara Delevingne

Menswear Designer: Kim Jones for Louis Vuitton

Designer of the Year: Stella McCartney

VOGUE'S DOCUMENTARY

You've seen The September Issue, read Grace Coddington's book. Why not make it a hat trick with Vogue: The Editor's Eye, a totally fabulous looking new documentary which will look at how the stylists at Vogue, including Coddington, get those thrilling shoots which sum up fashion moments. If you have access to HBO then set a reminder for December 6th, if not then we shall have to patiently wait for a UK release date. Tell us now, please!

VALENTINO AT SOMERSET HOUSE

Valentino; Master of Couture opened this week at Somerset House, making the stately building beside the Thames the ultimate place to be this month, what with the Tim Walker exhibition, ice rink and Christmas Arcade. Be sure to book your ticket soon. In the meantime, get a taster of what's to come with the second and third installments of the documentary about the exhibition. I posted the first film a couple of weeks ago.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

In my relatively short time working in fashion, one thing (of the many things) I have learnt is that the industry can really pick its moments when it comes to potentially huge news stories. There's none of the bang-in-the-middle-of-the-working-day punctuality of, say, the Leveson report. Take the frenzied rumour that Christopher Kane would be moving to Balenciaga, that all kicked off bright and early on a Saturday morning while confirmation of Raf Simons appointment to Dior was announced on a Bank Holiday Monday. I really wouldn't be surprised if some major development weren't revealed while we're sitting down for the Queen's Speech on Christmas Day. In fact in the time it has taken me to write that paragraph, it has been announced that J.W Anderson will be the first designer to work with Versus on their new approach of collaborating with young talent. Meanwhile, in the middle of last night, Cathy Horyn published a piece which suggested Alexander Wang is set to take over at Balenciaga when Nicolas Ghesquière leaves in a few days time. The FashEd's comment on that snippet is "So Alexander Wang would give up his own successful business in NYC to be a salaried employee of PPR in Paris to design Balenciaga?".

Schiaparelli pink (image from vogue.com)

Another ongoing fashion rumour is that LFW favourite Erdem Moralioglu might be getting ready to take up the reins at the newly revived Schiaparelli. Diego Della Valle, who owns the label, has pushed back the relaunch from January to June which means there are only a couple of months at the most before a designer needs to be appointed. Unlike Balenciaga, where whichever designer is chosen will have the immediate legacy of Ghesquière to contend with, as well as the codes of Cristóbal Balenciaga himself, Schiaparelli has been a dormant label since 1954. As well as creating madly fun and beautiful clothes, Elsa Schiaparelli employed her surrealist aesthetic with jewellery. Her Uncle was astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli and she would apparently sit with him and study the stars as a child, maybe looking at all those sparkles in the sky prompted her to branch into making shiny things of her own? Her pieces were kinds of sophisticated satire on conventional jewels, using the usual materials but crafting them into vaguely unnerving pieces. The bug necklace below, for example, was meant to create the illusion of the wearer being inundated by hundreds of insects.

Schiaparelli Lobster brooch (image via debutanteclothing.com)

Schiaparelli floating insect necklace (image from brooklynmuseum.org)

The lovely Erdem, perhaps in preparation for his Schiaparelli role if we allow ourselves to get utterly carried away with mere hearsay, has created a capsule accessories collection for online retailer MyTheresa. To be even more tenuous, the range includes chunky crystal earrings and necklaces not so very dissimilar to Schiaparelli's mid-century designs. Is it just me or do you see an element of bird in the earrings? The range only launched a couple of days ago and some pieces have sold out already. Whether you're into speculating on fashion comings and goings or not, there's no denying that a Christmas stocking full of Erdem x MyTheresa would go down a treat.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Unlike Carla Bruni, I do think Feminism is important and would happily declare myself to be one of those oft scoffed at Feminists. Some might say that you can't be a "proper" Feminist if you love fashion. That's rubbish. There is definitely something to be said, however, for clothes and accessories which don't hold us back; the impossible to walk in heels, for example, or the so-tight- you- can't-walk pencil skirt are quite frankly a waste of time. Sometimes then, a natural place to look for stylish yet- dare I say it- practical inspiration is menswear. There are innumerable examples of womenswear designers learning from men's tailoring for their shapes. Stella McCartney, who last night won Designer of the Year and Designer Brand of the Year at the British Fashion Awards, and Lee McQueen both trained on Savile Row.

Menswear isn't just about tailoring though. Workwear is an equally iconic part of the equation which has its roots in the labels which made super-durable overalls, jackets and trousers for American workers as far back as the mid-19th century. It was the likes of Levi and Strauss and Carhartt who clothed the troops which built the infrastructure which grew America, the builders of railways, lumberjacks and factory workers.

The gorgeous and mega talented Joseph Altuzarra looked to this culture via Virginia Woolf's novel Orlandofor his SS13, an exploration which resulted in a girl/ boy dichotomy of tough fabrics, pinstripes, scalloped sequins and golden fringing. There were cape coats, skirts and bootcut trousers with "railroad stripes like the OshKosh overalls you wore as a kid" and in "a brown the exact same shade of clay that Carhartt uses". La pièce de résistance was the label which Altuzarra had created to mimic a Carhartt or Levis tag, complete with "Lot SS13". A future collectible for sure.

Miuccia Prada also took to transforming workwear at Miu Miu, using hard wearing denim and lining it with the most sumptuous silk and cutting it into slightly skewed ladylike staples like duster coats and modest midi skirts. Add a ridiculously decadent fur stole or eff off massive gem and the outfits almost seem to tell a tale of a Levis wearer going from miner to millionaire, living the American dream.

At the Miu Miu press day... frayed denim sits with bling

This is not just a catwalk thing. Rihanna, Queen of setting a trend, has taken a fancy to a Carhartt overall jacket which she's worn twice in the past couple of weeks- for a celeb that's a major fashion love affair. RiRi also too a shine to the bomber jacket from Carhartt's ongoing collaboration with APC- a coat which I spied on no less than 3 people as I walked down Oxford Street this afternoon, I kid you not. I bet RiRi will be all over the OshKosh dungarees before too long. Sadly they're now only made in children's sizes but there are the occassional pair to be found in vintage rummages. Check out the OshKosh and Carhartt selections on Rokit's website. Let the Workwear revival commence!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Back in October as fashion month was coming to a close I ventured East, to Hoxton Art Gallery for my maiden solo mission and the chance to be one of the first to design my own pair of Skullcandy Aviator Edit Headphones. As someone whose look isn’t complete without the day’s appropriate soundtrack, it has been my own personal struggle to get my music to look as a good as it sounds. I have searched for headphones that deliver both on style and quality but to no avail. What is available seems to be either low quality, ugly or just LARGE and mainly directed at men, style vacant men at that. With headphones it seems quality and style are almost mutually exclusive- but why? Could Skullcandy’s new Aviator Edit be the answer to my prayers? The creatives at Skullcandy have married their high quality headphones, iconic Aviator model and handed over the role of designer to us – YAY.

Music meets art at Hoxton Art Gallery

Firstly I was talked through what I can only describe as an art installation showcasing Skullcandy’s entire range of headphones. I was taken through the evolution of Skullcandy, from skater brand to design conscious market leader. The brand’s Aviator style are perfect for those who create music and dress creatively. The headphones are recording quality and industry standard, they shape up well against their competitors. For any techies out there, their specs include impedance of 33ohms, a sound pressure level of 102db (1mW/500Hz), low distortion (0.05%)and high output ensuring your music sounds great. Skullcandy’s Jay Stevenson explained that, ''Aviators are industry standard, unlike a lot of other headphones of a similar price in the market, Aviators are good enough to create music with''– style and substance sounds good to me.

The Skullcandy family

When it came to my design I reverted straight to my default minimalist black but it seemed a shame to waste the design power in my hands and entirely uncreative. So with my head very much still in thecatwalks of New York/London/Milan/Paris I decided to seek inspiration for my edit from one of my favouriteshows, Erdem. With a last minute waver to the gorgeous simplicity of SS13’s monochrome, I thought Erdem’sdewy palette would make for much more interesting designing. As designer you are able to choose the colourof the headband, frame, caps and cord of your headphones from Skullcandy’s well selected colour palette.Channelling my inner reptilian 50s Erdem woman I opted for a white headband, chrome frame, teal- glossycaps and a pink cord. Once you have finished your edit you are invited to take snap shots of your designs andshare them on Twitter. And what’s more, you can order caps and cords in other colours so you can constantlyupdate your edit. In 10 days I had my SS13 Erdem Edit Headphones and was ready to walk the streets scoffingat anyone sporting those bulky plastic headphones of a certain doctor. Now just to get my hands on someErdem to complete my look. . . a girl can dream.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Yeh, yeh we should be spending money on socks for our Dads, nice smelling things for our Grannies etc. etc. but when they were scheduling Christmas, did no one ever think that this is the time of year when we want to be splashing our cash at designer sample sales? There are some real goodies on the horizon. Here are the details. Just don't blame us when you have nothing to put under the tree on Christmas day. At least you'll be wearing bargainous beautiful fashion...

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Poor leopard, has there ever been a print more ferociously maligned? The very mention of the L word provokes scrunched noses and cries of horror amongst many fashion aficionados who see the animal spots as the very antithesis of good taste, a print reserved for brash items which would never grace the backs of anyone with an iota of class. The completely iconic look of Coronation Street's most famous landlady, Bet Lynch, is a case in point. It's a strong identity which Julie Goodyear carved out for her character but one which more often ends up on some kind of hilarious list of style no-nos than as something to be emulated. However, that may be fashion snobbery speaking too soon because a visit to almost any high street store will show that there is always at least a smattering of leopard print items on offer, which means that leopard must sell however unhappy some fashion editors might be about that. We mustn't forget that leopard hasn't always had such a bad rep; Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe did it in a super sexy way, of course, but it never tipped into Lynch tack territory.

Now some big fashion players have stepped in to reverse the bad taste connotations of leopard. Catwalk wise, the image overhaul can be traced back to Gucci's AW12 show in which Frida Giannini showed several looks in jewel-hued devore, imprinted with those wild spots, and also to Christopher Kane's so-bad-it's-good shiny purple and red leopard Autumn/ Winter dresses and jackets. It was a stop point between traditional leopard vamp and it newly chic relative. Then came the Resort collections, which tell us a lot about we're really going to be wearing, the new classics to slot into our wardrobes. Phoebe Philo at Celine showed stark, panelled pieces comprised of one part coloured leather, one part unbelievably unbrash leopard. Meanwhile, Stella McCartney went all out on head-toe-leopard coats, kimono tops and sporty trousers. There's a kind of fashion genius in this transformation but if leopard sells then that's as good an excuse as any for a designer to work with it in a challenging retail climate.

Celine Resort (style.com)

Mossy does leopard

Kenzo SS13 (image via Catwalking.com)

The leopard rebirth shows no sign of abating; Humberto Leon and Carol Lim at Kenzo drenched their leopard print with colour for SS13, a look which will surely go down a treat with the army of new fans they are fast accumulating. The new leopard was affirmed last week when Kate Moss wore the print top-to-toe at the signing of her new book. The key to making leopard chic again is shape, anything which is clingy or scanty won't work for the new mood. Think loose and bold. As always, accessories are a great way to do it too, graphic is good.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

There's a tendency for social networking sites to suck away our time, and not in a good way. The worst culprit is Facebook where it's terrifyingly easy to fall down a black hole of wedding and new baby photos of people you barely know but somehow once became "Friends" with. Twitter is better, given that it is often teaching us something, or challenging our opinions. In the search for another timeline with something richer to offer than vacuous insights into other people's lives, I have recently discovered Art.sy, a new online destination where you can gather together imagery from your favourite artists.

Art.sy has the backing of some of art's finest financiers including Dasha Zhukova and Larry Gagosian, Like most of the art sites of its kind, Art.sy lets you accumulate a "collection" of your favourite pieces. The added bonus is the new suggestions it generates for you based on what you already like. You can also subscribe to certain genres of art like "Glamour", "Graffiti" or "Contemporary Photography".

For those among us whose budget doesn't stretch to acquiring our own real-life collection, this is a great way to curate your own space or just gather together any works which you find useful/ inspiring/ beautiful into one online space. And if you do happen to be one of those lucky few who must decide which art to invest in then art.sy is a great tool for that too. There is an "Inquire" option which lets you get in touch with galleries who have a piece you fancy snapping up for real. Art.sy also shows details about shows going on at galleries all around the world, as well as partnering with big art fairs like Design Miami .

For fashion fans, now is a very good time to get into your art with plenty of SS13 collections referencing artists. If you find that you need an invite to Art.sy then drop me a line, I have a few left.

Monday, November 19, 2012

This could be an interesting week for fashion. After the weekend's flurry of rumour that Christopher Kane would be taking up the Balenciaga post left vacant by Nicolas Ghesquière and his subsequent denial, this lunchtime news came via WWD that Kane was to leave his post designing for Versace's sister line, Versus. Whether Kane goes to Balenciaga or not, this is unlikely to be the last we hear of the shenanigans in the coming days, even if Kane is saying that he is set to devote himself entirely to growing his own brand. On top of all that, US Vogue Creative Director Grace Coddington is coming to London in celebration of the publication of her memoirs. In yesterday's Sunday Telegraph, an exclusive extract from the book was published, detailing Coddington's famous and much-examinedrelationship with Anna Wintour. As well as discussing the chronology of their great partnership, Coddington also offers insight into how US Vogue has changed during Wintour's tenure. She says, "Vogue now incorporates the worlds of art, business, technology, travel, food, celebrity and politics. And this is all largely due to her vision."

Sojourner Morrel by Mel Bles

In fact, where US Vogue has led, others have followed, finding their own unique spin on the potential synergy of all the worlds we can possibly inhabit. Centrefold magazine is one such- rather beautiful- example of this, doing its thing on a niche and exclusive level which means so much in our easily over-saturated world. Where a fashion week snap of Cara Delevingne might get hundreds of retweets, or a shot of Jourdan Dunn on the catwalk will be beamed to websites, newspapers and magazines the world over, Centrefold gives us something properly special. For its latest Issue 8, the publication has teamed up with Storm Models and property developers, Manhattan Loft Corporation. Entitled "20 + 25 = 8", a nod to the respective anniversaries of Manhattan Loft and Storm, this is an absolute must-buy for those among you who would like some more exclusive imagery to cherish of your favourite supermodels, from the utterly fabulous Cindy Crawford to new girls like Cara D.

Fashion and architecture complement one another as we see Sojourner Morrel in a shoot inspired by Manhattan Loft Gardens and Elisa Sednaoui posing at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. Harry Handelsman, CEO of Manhattan Loft Corporation says, "our buildings are renowned for their incredible style and in this edition of Centrefold where the worlds of fashion, art and design come together our developments are perfectly placed to provide striking urban backdrops for the world’s most famous modelling talent." Meanwhile, Centrefold Editor-in-Chief Andrew G. Hobbs calls his latest issue a "dynamic collision of talent, achievement and creativity". And the cherry on the cake is Kate Moss, arguably Storm's Sarah Doukas's greatest find, in all her supermodel fabulousness on the front cover. A real keeper.